A record 18 strikeouts in a single game was achieved in professional baseball. The incredible power of Hanwha Eagles foreign pitcher Cody Ponce (31) made manager Kim Kyung-moon smile.
Ponce started the first game of the doubleheader against the SSG Landers in the 2025 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League on the 17th at Daejeon Hanwha Life Baseball Park, leading Hanwha to a 1-0 victory with 8 innings pitched, 2 hits allowed, 1 walk, 18 strikeouts, and no earned runs.
The 18 strikeouts tie the all-time record for most in a single game in the KBO League. On June 19, 1991, Hite's Son Dong-youl struck out 18 batters over 13 innings in Gwangju (Mudeung) against Binggrae. This remarkable feat came 34 years later. Based on regular innings, Ponce broke the previous record of 17 set by Hanwha's Ryu Hyun-jin on May 11, 2010, against LG in Cheongju, marking the first time in 15 years the record was broken. Ryu Hyun-jin also applauded Ponce, who broke his record, from the first base dugout.
After striking out 18 batters, Ponce maintained a no-hitter through 8 innings with 2 outs, but faced a crisis with no outs and runners on 1st and 3rd after giving up consecutive hits to Ahn Sang-hyun and Jung Joon-jae. However, he managed to retire the next batter, Shin Bum-soo, with a fly ball to left field, finishing the 8th inning without allowing any runs.
This season, he threw a personal high of 113 pitches, including 81 strikes and 32 balls. He scattered his pitches effectively, reaching a top speed of 157 km/h, with an average fastball speed of 154 km/h (53 pitches), including changeups (24 pitches), sliders (21 pitches), and curves (15 pitches). The decisive pitches for the 18 strikeouts consisted of 8 fastballs, 7 changeups, 2 sliders, and 1 curve, demonstrating a balanced use of all his pitches. He recorded 15 swinging strikeouts and 3 looking strikeouts.
With this victory, Hanwha broke a 3-game losing streak following 12 consecutive wins, marking 28 wins and 16 losses, and narrowed the gap to 1 game behind the 1st place LG (29 wins and 15 losses), who lost 4-12 in the first game of their doubleheader against KT on the same day.
After the game, Hanwha manager Kim Kyung-moon said, "First, I want to congratulate Ponce on achieving the new record," adding, "Starting pitcher Ponce's perfect pitching and Kim Seo-hyun's tough save in the last inning were commendable. I also want to praise Lee Jin-young's great defensive play that helped prevent runs."
Although Kim Seo-hyun secured the victory for Ponce, the real save came from right fielder Lee Jin-young. In the 9th inning with no outs and a runner on second, Choi Ji-hoon attempted to score when Park Sung-han hit a ball to right field, but he was caught by Lee Jin-young's accurate throw home. Lee Jin-young's direct throw tagged out the speedy Choi Ji-hoon, who could have tied the game at 1-1. Kim Seo-hyun, who received critical help from Lee Jin-young's defense, earned his 13th save of the season without allowing any runs in 1 inning.
With this pleasant victory, manager Kim Kyung-moon smiled broadly. After the first game, he watched Ponce, who was being interviewed by reporters in the dugout, smiling proudly without saying a word. During the interview, Ponce spotted manager Kim and joked, "I'm not showing up tomorrow," which made Kim burst into laughter.
Meanwhile, the second game started 40 minutes after the first game of the doubleheader ended. For both games, the attendance was sold out at 17,000 seats as of 4:43 p.m. This marked the 21st capacity crowd out of 24 home games this season.
As a result, Hanwha extended its KBO League record for consecutive sellouts to 19 games, starting from the game against Lotte at Sajik on the 23rd of last month. Additionally, they set a tie record for 17 consecutive sellouts at home in Daejeon since the game against Kiwoom on the 13th of last month. Hanwha previously held the record of 17 consecutive sellouts, achieved from the game against Lotte on October 16, 2023, to the game against SSG on May 1 of last year.
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